Deliciously Ridiculous: Can Republicans Top Emily in Paris?
Season 3 of Netflix’ Emily in Paris has been released, and as Fletcher Peters at The Daily Beast review says, it’s jam packed with ridiculous dialogue, shocking fashion choices and shocking storylines. In short, fans are thrilled that it’s back.
You might want to know more about the plot for Emily in Paris Season 3, but describing the wild new storylines feels more impossible than stealing the Mona Lisa.
I’m not sure that many people are as excited about Republican politicos on the national scene this week, who have probably doomed their colleagues to Christmas weekend sheltering in place, as a winter storm closes many airports.
But I can say that they are experiencing ridiculous dialogue, being faux-shocked at others' fashion choices, and pursuing a political storyline equivalent to jumping off the Eiffel Tower. Last years’ best buddies are squabbling and chaos is constant.
Let’s start with the most delicious part, which is the slap fight between Reps Marjorie Taylor Greene and other members of the so-called Freedom Caucus. After spending two years on the outside looking in –no committee assignments thanks to bad behavior,– Greene has cozied up with Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s campaign to become Speaker of the House.
McCarthy doesn’t have the needed votes and has resorted to openly pandering to members of the nutcase faction, including a plum assignment for Georgia’s Jewish Space Laser lady. She and yet-to-be indicted Rep Matt Gaetz had dueling op-eds at Tucker Carlson’s legacy lunacy, aka the Daily Caller.
“Every single Republican in Congress knows that Kevin does not actually believe anything. He has no ideology,” Gaetz writes. “Lying to the base is a red line for me, and that’s what five of my closest colleagues are doing when they claim a consensus House Speaker candidate will emerge as they oppose Kevin McCarthy,” Greene retorts.
All of this back and forth might just be white (word choice deliberate) noise, except that serious business is afoot. You know, the stuff we send them to Washington to do when they’re not fundraising.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech before a joint session of Congress, was a barn burner; a passionate pitch for good in the battle versus evil. And, of course, some more weapons could make the difference.
The former Soviet Republic has occupied an outsized role in both international and domestic politics over the past decade. American corruption and Russian expansionism have run headlong into the post-WWII globalist vision of the world. Jenny Cohn’s explainer is a good place to catch up if you’re looking for a refresher course.
Since the far right’s pro-Putin positions have failed to capture the American imagination, ad hominem attacks and performative nonsense were the only responses available to the Freedom Caucus.
Fox news Tucker Carlson spent much of his show complaining about Zelenskyy’s attire, saying he “dressed like the manager of a strip club” when addressing Congress. He then proceeded to present the parade of propaganda that led many to wonder if GOP really stands for Government Of Putin.
Former US President Donald Trump's son took to Twitter to slam the Ukrainian leader and dub him an "ungrateful international welfare queen." That’s kind of ironic coming from a family member supported by a tax-dodging syndicate.
More stupid stuff: Rep. Kevin McCarthy refused to escort Zelenskyy to the Capitol rotunda. Reps Boebert and Gaetz refused to go through security screening, and refused to stand or clap during his speech as they stared at their phones the whole time.
(Note: I am currently in Twitmo, so please excuse any punctuation errors as the above mentions were smuggled out to me on discarded McDonald’s hamburger wrappers.)
The really stupid stuff is coming from House Republicans, in what many hope is a preview of the next two years. Many far right legislators have banded together in hopes of blocking the $1.7 trillion Omnibus bill negotiated by leaders of both parties.
Failure to move the legislation(which seems to have been saved as I’m writing this) would result in a government shutdown, a threat being made by those who would use the situation to demand cuts to social security, Medicare, and other domestic programs.
From the Washington Post:
But the debate, raucous and delayed at times, also has revealed a more difficult political truth about the year to come. A handful of Republicans — anticipating the party’s takeover of the House on Jan. 3 — have opposed the bill and threatened their own leaders for even negotiating with Democrats over spending. Their staunch, public resistance seemed to foreshadow tougher spending battles on the horizon in a Capitol that often legislates from the precipice of a fiscal cliff.
McCarthy has come around to support a threat by House members pledging that bills from GOP senators who vote for the package would be “dead on arrival.” It’s kind of an empty threat, given the Democratic majority in the Senate, but taken to its extreme could mean any bipartisan legislation would bite the dust.
There are lots of reasons why such a fuss is being made over the spending bill, but the most obnoxious one comes from House Republicans like Rep. Dan Bishop, who has an issue with specific aspects of the bill aside from its huge price tag.
Bishop pointed to what he called a "sinister" portion of the bill that allotted nearly $600 million to encourage "family planning" in places where human population growth threatens animal biodiversity.
"Malthusianism is a disturbing, anti-human ideology that should have ZERO place in any federal program," Bishop wrote on Twitter.
What this is really about is birth control generally, and funding for Planned Parenthood specifically.
The omnibus spending bill released early Tuesday keeps funding flat for the TitleX family planning program at $286.5 million for the ninth year in a row, a blow to reproductive health groups that had argued the fall of Roe v. Wade warranted a substantial increase.
Title X clinics around the country provide free and discounted #contraception, STD testing and other services for millions of low-income people. The groups argue more people than ever need those services now that it is banned in a quarter of states and STD rates are at record highs.
While Republicans have generally kept their opposition to birth control on the down low –like their plans for social security and Medicaid,– make no mistake; they’re thrilled about Roe v Wade being shot down and gunning for more.
So, while it can be momentarily amusing to watch the GOP family feud, it’s important to remember that what they ultimately have in mind is deadly serious.
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PS – I’ll be taking Dec 23-26 AND January 3-8 off for the holidays.
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